The Sorceress Diaries: Book Three
by Silvver Phoenix
Summary: The final installment of The Sorceress Diaries. With house-elf liberation, restoring Harry's public image, Ron's strange behaviour, and O.W.L.'s all on her mind, Hermione may be heading for a nervous breakdown, with only her dia - journal - as witness.
1. Monday, 1 January

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I would have millions of dollars and wouldn't cry every time gas prices went up half a cent. Laugh if you will, but I'm a starving student and last time I checked, dear readers, you didn't own Harry Potter either, so let us all cry about gas money and curse Petro Canada together.

Like _The Sorceress Diaries Book One_ and _Two_, _Book Three_ tells Order of the Phoenix from Hermione's point of view. Many scenes and a lot of dialogue is taken from Order of the Phoenix, obviously. Any scenes or dialogue that do not look familiar are "missing moments" from OotP, and obviously came from my warped little mind and belong to me.

**Warning**: Read _Book One _and _Two_. Siriusly. Several things probably will not make sense if you do not.

**Author's Notes**: Hoorah! Me and my lengthy author's notes and disappointingly short chapters are back! Just kidding, these chapters won't be as disappointingly short, hopefully. _Book Three_ will cover from January all the way until the end of the school year. Since this is such a long period of time, and since Hermione will likely become increasingly obsessed with studying for O.W.L.'s as time wears on, _Book Three_'s chapters will probably be fewer and far between (say an entry every few weeks rather than an entry every few days) and will therefore be longer when they do occur. So hooray for everything.

**Another warning**: I am kicking the R/H up a notch. Rock and roll, Hermione and Ron.

* * *

**The Sorceress Diaries: Book Three**

_Journal of Hermione Granger_

* * *

Monday, 1 January, 1996

_11:24 a.m._

Well, 1996, so far I am not impressed.

Within the first hour of the new year, I managed to:

1) Make a complete fool of myself.

2) Do something abysmally stupid.

3) Yell at Sirius.

4) Yell at Tonks.

5) Yell at Ginny.

Allow me to further explain.

Sirius's "New Year's Eve party" consisted of myself, Harry, the Weasley's, Professor Lupin, Mundungus, and Tonks all trying too hard to have a good time. The twins tried to entertain everyone with their latest inventions, but it didn't work out so well because they had to do so without their mother seeing them. Tonks took over for a bit, morphing into various members of the Order and doing over-the-top impressions of them, but this became a bit too bizarre after awhile. Sirius was talking and laughing much too loudly, and Professor Lupin looked rather uncomfortable for most of the night. Mrs. Weasley just looked tired and sad; it was probably her first New Year's Eve without Mr. Weasley in a long time.

Mrs. Weasley had kept herself busy all day by cooking, as usual. She had set up some food around the kitchen buffet-style, and Harry, Ron, Ginny, and I occupied ourselves by stuffing our faces for most of the night. Harry and Ron ignored my protests against it and got themselves into a cake-eating contest; they decided that whoever ate the most slices of Mrs. Weasley's chocolate cake would win. Boys.

I noticed a glass punch bowl filled with bright pink juice set up on the end of the table and poured myself a goblet, settling down in a chair next to Ginny to watch Harry and Ron make themselves sick, if only for the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" later on. Looking back, I did think that the punch tasted a bit funny. But I thought it was another patented wizarding drink that I just wasn't used to yet - after all, pumpkin juice tasted a bit funny at first, too. So when I finished my first goblet I poured myself another…and another…

Only after Ron's and Harry's third piece of cake each did I realize that I'd had five glasses of punch, and that I was giggling quite a lot. Harry was clutching his stomach and groaning, and Ron was bravely venturing to cut another slice of cake when I started hiccupping madly.

"You all right, Hermione?" Ron asked suspiciously. I was vaguely aware that my cheeks were flushed.

"Just - _hic_ - peachy!" I answered, giggling. "Harry - _hic_ - you'd better - _hic_ - catch up!"

The worst part was that I knew that I was carrying on a lot and making quite the fool of myself, but I felt as if I was unable to do anything about it. I couldn't stop giggling and had started to feel a bit dizzy.

"Do you want some water, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"Nope!" I said giddily between hiccups, raising my fifth glass of punch. "I have this!"

"Hermione!" Sirius suddenly yelled in alarm from the other side of the room. He quickly made his way over and snatched the raised glass out of my hands.

"Hey!" I said indignantly.

Sirius looked nervously around the room, then bent over and said in a low, embarrassed voice, "That punch is…er…supposed to be for the adults, Hermione."

"Huh?" I said intelligently, and then hiccupped. Sirius shook his head, pulled out his wand, and vanished my glass of punch.

"Sirius!" I protested loudly, drawing a few curious stares. "I was - _hic_ - drinking that!"

Before Sirius could say or do anything more, Tonks called, "One minute 'til midnight!"

"Already?" I exclaimed, leaping out of my chair and then swaying precariously. Harry and Ron gave me very strange looks, and Ginny grabbed my arm to steady me, looking as if she was trying very hard not to laugh. I think she overheard what Sirius told me about the punch.

"Thirty…twenty-nine…" Tonks counted down.

Leaping up from my chair so fast was not a very smart idea; little dots of light were now clouding my vision, and I tried to blink them away. I must have looked extremely foolish standing there, swaying slightly and blinking rapidly.

"Hermione, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Harry asked worriedly. I didn't reply; the early stages of what would become a splitting headache had begun, and everything was beginning to seem very loud and irritating.

"Fifteen, fourteen…" Tonks shouted.

"Tonks, must you do that so loudly?" I yelled irritably. I don't think she heard me over the countdown, though, thankfully.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…" the Weasley twins chorused, a barrage of Filibuster's No-Heat Wet-Start fireworks at the ready by their sides.

"Six, five, four, three…" Ron chanted beside me. I found myself gawking at him openly, mulling over how tall he was for some reason.

Before I knew it, everyone else had yelled, "Happy New Year!", the twins were setting off their fireworks, and all the adults were raising their wands in the air and sending up gold sparks that made very high-pitched noises, as is the tradition in the wizarding world (or so I've read in _Weird Wizarding Ways: An Explanation of Magical Traditions for the Muggle-Born Wizard or Witch_). The fireworks began whizzing about and exploding all around us, and everybody started hugging and kissing.

I know it's an old-fashioned tradition for Muggles to kiss someone on New Year's Eve, but I didn't think that wizards did it as well; it wasn't in _Weird Wizarding Ways_, anyway. But there was Tonks kissing a fiercely blushing Professor Lupin right on his nose, and Fred and George squishing their mother between them, with one twin kissing each cheek, and Sirius kissing Mundungus on the forehead with a huge smacking noise, laughing hysterically (and a bit too forcefully). And Ginny…bold little Ginny Weasley walked right up to Harry and casually kissed him on the cheek with a bright little, "Happy New Year!", then flounced away to kiss her mother without a second look back at The Boy Who Lived, who was at that moment The Boy Who Looked Sort of Surprised And Red in the Face. And I stood there, panicking.

I don't know if it was the punch, or if one completely loses their wits for the first few moments of the new year or what, but I looked at Ron and thought, _Well, I'd better kiss somebody_, and on impulse, leaned towards him to kiss him on the cheek.

Except Ron turned his head at the last moment, probably to glance at me and figure out what on earth I was trying to do…

And I sort of…missed.

I ended up kissing the corner of his mouth instead. Just the corner, mind you. But it was a far cry from the intended target of his cheek.

I jumped away in horror, cheeks flaming, head spinning, and stomach lurching either at the thought of what I'd just done or because of the punch. I turned and fled.

After a very awkward flight up the stairs involving much tripping over my own feet, I managed to get into my room and fling myself upon my bed, my head now throbbing painfully. A few moments later I heard the door creak open. Ginny, the little vixen herself, walked into the darkened room.

"Hermione?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Nooooo," I groaned, trying to figure out what was worse - the queasiness in my stomach or the throbbing pain in my head or the tight feeling in my chest because I'd just gone and practically snogged her brother. Or the corner of his mouth, anyway. I hiccupped loudly.

"Are you…?" Ginny trailed off and started laughing. "How much punch did you have?"

"If you're just going to - _hic_ - make fun of me, leave me alone!"

"I was just checking on you…Ron said you ran off right after the countdown and told me to come up and make sure you're all right…he sounded rather concerned."

Brash little tart…she couldn't even be bothered to keep the hint of amusement out of her voice.

"Go - _hic_ - away!" I yelled. I think I may have thrown a pillow at her. At any rate, she left, and I was mercifully granted reprieve from my headache by immediately falling into a deep, though pillowless, sleep.

This morning, rather than going down and facing everyone after that foolish display last night, I told Ginny that I still had a terrible headache (which was not a complete lie; my head still hurts a bit, though not as bad as last night) and stayed in bed. A concerned Mrs. Weasley came up a few times to check on me, but I pretended to be asleep. I think I even saw Sirius poke his head in at one point. Hopefully Ron won't come up…

Pretending to be asleep eventually got boring though, and I couldn't even get out my books and use this time wisely by revising for O.W.L's, because if anyone comes to check on me and finds me revising for exams they'll make me go downstairs. So I took out my trusty journal and have been writing under the covers for the past hour or so.

I don't know what I'm going to do…I can't hide up here forever, but I can't go downstairs either because that will likely involve having to look Ron in the eye, which I cannot attempt to do after last night. Mrs. Crick would say that my unwillingness to take responsibility for my actions reflects a learned helplessness orientation and is not conducive to my cognitive growth. Oh well, Mrs. Crick and cognitive growth can stuff it.

I think what I need to do is re-evaluate my personal goals. It's a new year, after all, and despite the fact that I've already done something incredibly stupid in 1996, there is no reason I have to follow suit for the rest of the year.

Goals for the New Year:

1) Spend at least one hour per day revising for O.W.L's. The amount of time spent revising will increase exponentially as O.W.L's get closer and closer.

2) Continue honouring commitments to the D.A., S.P.E.W., and prefect duties.

3) Resume knitting clothes for house-elves immediately after return to Hogwarts. Think of all the poor house-elves who had to stay there over the holidays because I didn't knit enough clothes to free them! I feel just terrible…

4) Look further into career paths - something to do with creatures' rights, but also possibly Healing…?

5) Do something about Umbridge. (Force her to somehow break one of her own educational decrees and get sacked? Write an anonymous letter to the Ministry complaining about her teaching skills, or lack thereof? Push her down the stairs and make it look like an accident?)

6) Do something about Neville's parents. (?)

7) Do something about Voldemort. (?)

8) Do not let Harry get down on himself. Do not let anyone else get Harry down.

9) Do not let Ron frustrate, annoy, or fluster me. Do not spend excess amounts of time thinking about Ron. Do not allow Parvati or Lavender to over-analyze Ron's conduct towards me or vice versa. Do not contemplate the meaning behind any gifts Ron has given me or may give me in the future. Do not, under any circumstances, randomly throw self at Ron, hug Ron, or try to kiss Ron on the cheek. Overall, deal with Ron in a calm, rational, friendly (but not too friendly) manner.

10) Achieve emotional satisfaction.

_12:52 p.m._

11) Do not drink any punch.


	2. Saturday, 6 January

**Author's Notes: **Well I'm working all day with rambunctious pre-teens, so I don't have much time for writing. However, I will try to get in a chapter whenever possible.

I don't want to have a page-long author's notes, so my little comments and such to all you wonderful reviewers are on the review page.

Sidenote: Peanut butter and crackers is the best snack EVER. I ate like, half a jar of peanut butter while writing this.

* * *

Saturday, 6 January

_3:35 p.m._

Things have become increasingly dull and increasingly gloomy around here. I've been sticking to my new goals and have been working hard at O.W.L. revision to make up for lost time, but I still just don't feel as motivated as I usually do when it comes to exams. It's hard to decide if I'm looking forward to returning to school tomorrow or not. On one hand, going back to Hogwarts will get us out of Grimmauld Place; on the other hand, going back to Hogwarts means going back to the tyrannical rule of Dolores Umbridge.

On a positive note, no one seems to remember (or they're all pretending to have forgotten) my idiotic behaviour on New Year's Eve. I eventually came downstairs on New Year's Day, still feigning a bad headache as an excuse not to talk to anyone, and nobody mentioned the incident. However, I did see Mrs. Weasley give Sirius a few murderous looks, and noticed Sirius glancing at me guiltily from time to time. Ron avoided me the entire day (or perhaps it was the other way around…I can't remember now…) and I thought things were a bit awkward for a few days afterwards, though neither of us mentioned the ill-fated corner-of-the-mouth-kiss. Then Crookshanks tried to eat one of the rooks from Ron's precious chess set and we got into a row. I was angry because poor Crookshanks nearly choked, and Ron was angry because apparently the experience traumatized his rook and now it's too afraid to move when he's playing with it. We had it out, made up, and then everything was back to normal again.

I apologized to Ginny for yelling at her on New Year's Eve when she came to check on me (she really was concerned about me), and I even apologized to Tonks, although she doesn't remember me shouting at her during the countdown and apparently didn't even notice anything was amiss with regards to my behaviour that night. In fact, when I finally gave Ginny permission to tell Tonks what happened, she was furious with herself for having missed it. I noticed Ginny left out the part about me kissing Ron on the corner of the mouth, though; perhaps she was too busy kissing Harry to have noticed. Hopefully no one else noticed, either.

I actually wasn't going to let Ginny tell Tonks about my punch-related escapades on New Year's Eve, but when I finally relented and let Ginny tell her about it, I felt much better. The three of us had a good giggle over it. I suppose it is rather funny in retrospect. It's good to have Ginny and Tonks around to talk to sometimes - laughing about it with the two of them made me realize how silly all of my fretting about the incident was. Don't get me wrong, Harry and Ron are my best friends and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but it's also sort of nice to have…well, girlfriends. I know Tonks is quite a bit older than us, but she spent a lot of time with Ginny and I in the summer and over the holidays, and we've gotten to be quite good friends. She seems more like an older sister than an adult witch, or an Auror, or a member of the Order.

Actually, Tonks had the day off today, and opted to spend the morning and most of the afternoon here, even though she could have probably spent her morning more wisely by sleeping. I've noticed that since Mr. Weasley was attacked, all of the members of the Order who happen by Grimmauld Place look even more tired and weary than usual. Even Tonks can't morph away the bags under her eyes. This was a hot topic of discussion amongst Harry, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and I for awhile. The most obvious reason why everyone is so tired, of course, is that they've had to step up security on whatever it is they're guarding since Mr. Weasley was attacked. What they're guarding though, still remains a mystery…

So this morning the collective inhabitants of Grimmauld Place plus Tonks were sitting around the kitchen after breakfast, listlessly watching Sirius's and Kreacher's tug-of-war over a silver candelabra that apparently belonged to his Aunt Elladora. This was vaguely amusing for awhile, and then Tonks got bored and started playing with her hairstyle.

"Curly and red?" Tonks mused aloud, morphing to match the description. She glanced at herself in the mirror hanging next to the fireplace and scrunched her nose. "Hmm…lengthy and blonde?"

"Doesn't that hurt you at all?" Ron asked curiously, watching Tonks's hair lengthen and turn platinum blonde.

"Nah. It used to be really draining and harder to control when I was younger, but now…" Tonks shrugged and her hair rapidly shortened into a chin-length bob, still platinum blonde. "Or perhaps you prefer it bushy and brown, Ron?" she said innocently, hair thickening and darkening.

_I'll kill her_, I thought savagely.

"What's your hair look like naturally?" Ginny asked inquisitively before I could act on my murderous thoughts.

Tonks looked pensive for a moment, and then took a deep breath. As she exhaled, her hair rapidly unfurled into a long, thick, shining black curtain. With her hair like that, and the bags under her eyes, she looked vaguely like someone else I'd seen before…but I couldn't quite place who it was…

I became aware that Sirius had stopped his struggle with Kreacher. He was staring at Tonks with an unreadable expression on his face while Kreacher hugged the candelabra to his chest.

"Sirius?" Harry said.

Sirius shook his head, muttered something, and then left the kitchen. Tonks watched him leave worriedly and then quickly morphed her hair back to its usual, spiky, pink state.

No one said anything about it until later, when Tonks, Ginny, and I were sitting around the drawing room together. I was finishing off _The New Theory of Numerology_, Ginny was reading a letter from Michael, and Tonks was amusing herself by charming pictures of various Ministry members in a four month-old issue of _The Daily Prophet_ that was lying around.

Ginny finished reading her letter from Michael (frowning slightly and turning it over, as if expecting to find more on the back of the piece of parchment) and then looked up at Tonks, whose hair was still short and spiky, but was now neon green.

"Tonks?"

"Mmm?" replied Tonks, charming a picture of Fudge to grow a long moustache that curled up at the ends.

"What was that business with Sirius about this morning?"

"What, the candelabra? Well, as far as I know, Aunt Elladora was rather fond of - "

"No, no, I mean with your hair," Ginny interrupted.

Tonks's face clouded. "Oh. Well…I suppose I reminded him of someone he doesn't like to remember he's related to."

That's when it hit me: this morning, Tonks looked very much like the woman in the photograph in Kreacher's den. The one who tortured Neville's parents into insanity. Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black.

"That's right…" Ginny said slowly. "She's your…"

"Aunt," Tonks said bluntly, in a tone that was not at all like Tonks.

"Sorry," Ginny said quickly. "I didn't mean to…I mean, you're nothing like…"

Tonks sighed. "It's all right. Luckily, looks are the only thing I inherited from Mum's side of the family. And fortunately, that's not a big problem for me," Tonks smiled and her green hair turned navy blue.

"Gin?" Bill appeared at the doorway and smiled at Tonks and I before turning his attention back to Ginny. "I'm going to head down to St. Mungo's…Healer Smethwyck owled to say that they're going to run a few more tests, and then Dad might be able to leave."

"Really?" Ginny said delightedly. "That's great! Are you going right now?"

"Yeah, just waiting for the twins to get their things…they're insisting on coming, though I doubt it's because they want to sit through some boring medical spells…" Bill noticed _The Daily Prophet_ splayed out in front of Tonks, and grinned at Fudge's new moustache. "Really, Tonks. Is that the best you could do?"

"Well I was going to give him a very bad haircut, but he is my boss…couldn't do anything too cruel, it might get back to him," Tonks smirked.

"Hmm…still needs a little something," Bill said. He pointed his wand at the picture and murmured something. In the photo, Fudge started twirling the new moustache, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Tonks burst into laughter.

"We'll be back in a few hours," Bill said with a grin, disappearing.

"Ah, that brother of yours," Tonks said with a melodramatic sigh. "Too bad that little French coquette has gone and snatched him up."

"Has she really?" Ginny said interestedly. "I thought the twins were just joking around."

"Oh, I don't know for sure, but that's the latest Order gossip," Tonks said with a shrug. "Apparently, those Weasley men are quite the catches. Right, Hermione?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that insinuation with an answer," I said dryly from behind my book.

"Care to share any other Order gossip?" Ginny asked Tonks casually.

"Nice try," Tonks said. She nodded at Ginny's letter. "And how's your beau?"

"Apparently too busy to write me a decent letter," Ginny said with a little sigh. "I sent him three pieces of parchment and he can't even be bothered to write me half a page."

"Oh, that's just boys," Tonks said wisely. She looked pensive for a moment. "Actually, you probably shouldn't listen to my advice. I didn't have many sordid affairs while at Hogwarts myself."

"I'm not having a sordid affair. He's my boyfriend."

"But what about Harry?" Tonks exclaimed. Ginny rolled her eyes at her.

"Actually, there was only one bloke that I really fancied at Hogwarts," Tonks continued. I was still reading, but I could feel her looking directly at me. "But he was my best mate, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. By the time I'd worked up the nerve to tell him how I felt, it was the end of seventh year and he was planning to go running off to Africa to study the endangered Erumpent."

"The Erumpent?" I said, frowning and lowering _The New Theory of Numerology_. "Aren't they the ones that blow each other up during mating season?"

"Yeah," Tonks said, grinning ruefully. "Perhaps it wasn't a good sign that he was so interested in them. But the moral of the story is, I should have told him how I felt much sooner." She gave me a furtive look.

"Excellent moral," Ginny agreed, also looking at me.

I sighed loudly and went back to _The New Theory of Numerology_.

Right. So I rather like Tonks, and it's great to have girlfriends and all, but sometimes the pair of them drive me mad.

_9:45 p.m._

Bill and the twins returned around suppertime with a completely cured Mr. Weasley, still in his striped pajamas. Apparently they found a cure for whatever it was in the snake's venom, fixed up the stitching disaster, and sent him on his way. The Weasley children and Mrs. Weasley made such a ruckus when he got home that Mrs. Black hollered for at least twenty minutes before anybody thought of closing the curtains over her portrait. I felt sort of out of place amidst all those Weasley's hugging and kissing and whatnot (Harry wasn't there because he was talking to Snape in the kitchen…more on that later), but then Mr. Weasley gave me a big hug too, and I felt like I belonged.

The whole lot of us paraded down to the kitchen to tell Harry and Sirius the good news, only to walk in and find Sirius and Snape standing a few feet apart with their wands practically shoved down each other's throats. Harry was standing between them with a strained expression on his face, an arm restraining each man.

"Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley. "What's going on here?"

Neither of them gave us a straight answer, and Snape sailed out after stating, "Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter."

Apparently, Dumbledore wants Harry to take Occlumency lessons from Snape. I don't know why I didn't think of Occlumency before, when Harry told me about his nightmares - but then again, I didn't know then that his nightmares were due to his connection to Voldemort. I think it's a great idea, even though Harry's less than thrilled that Snape will be teaching him. I can't blame him, but I do hope that he puts effort into the lessons, despite his hatred for Snape - it's obviously extremely important for Harry to learn Occlumency. I don't see why Dumbledore wouldn't just teach Harry himself…I suppose he's very busy, but I've read that Dumbledore is one of the best Occlumens, and a very skilled Legilimens, too…

Well, I'd better go to bed. I could have spent all the time I've wasted writing in here today revising for O.W.L.'s instead. When I get back to school tomorrow, no more nonsense. I have to get my priorities straight.


	3. Monday, 8 January

**Author's Notes:** I live! I apologize for the lack of updates, but it's been a crazy, hectic, but awesome spring. Hope everyone's still following…props to all readers and reviewers for sticking with it.

There was a inconsistency with OotP in TSD: Book 1 that several people pointed out to me. Ron took the Knight Bus back to Grimmauld Place when they picked up Hermione in the summer, but in OotP he says that he's always wanted to go on the Knight Bus when they take it back to Hogwarts after Christmas. In order to cover my ass, I try to explain the discrepancy in this chapter. Hokey, I know, but I gave it a shot.

* * *

Monday, 8 January

_8:28 a.m._

Well, after lots of goodbyes, a very long hug from Mrs. Weasley, a few bad jokes regarding snakes from Mr. Weasley, and a very turbulent bus ride, we're back at school. Tonks and Lupin were acting very strangely yesterday, though. They practically shoved us onto the Knight Bus and were acting rather nervous and fidgety the whole ride. Tonks even threatened to curse the conductor into oblivion when he almost yelled out Harry's name.

"I've always wanted to go on this thing," Ron said happily to Ginny as we got on. I gave him a strange look - after all, we took the Knight Bus to Grimmauld Place when he came to get me in the summer - but didn't say anything. Tonks, Harry, Ron, and I went up to the second level, and Lupin stayed with Ginny and the twins on the first level. The conductor followed us upstairs, apparently not overly concerned that Tonks (who was disguised as an older woman with gray hair yesterday) had just threatened to curse him stupid.

"You keeping well, then, Harry?" said the teenaged conductor, who had evidently met Harry before. "I seen your name in the paper loads over the summer, but it weren't never nothing very nice. I said to Ern, I said, he didn't seem like a nutter when we met him, just goes to show, doesn't it?"

Well, I suppose that's encouraging. At least there are some people out there who don't think Harry is a madman. If Harry could only talk to those people…tell them what really happened, try to get them on our side…I mean, the Ministry has the _Daily Prophet_ so they can spread all the lies and rumours that they want. There's no way for Harry to get the truth out to the people who have doubts about what the _Prophet_ is saying. How long are they going to keep up the lies, I wonder? Will there actually have to be killings before Fudge finally admits that he was wrong?

Sorry. That was rather dark and grim-sounding. I hope to goodness that it doesn't come to that…

Anyways, I've been on the Knight Bus three times now, and I think that this ride was the worst. I don't know if it's because Tonks paid the driver off to get us to Hogwarts in a hurry, or if it's because we took it in the day (every other time I've taken it at night, when they have beds instead of chairs) or what, but this ride rivaled even that horrible experience with Tonks driving Mabel the car. The chairs kept falling over and knocking into one another, people's things kept flying out of their arms and spilling all over the place, and at some point Pigwidgeon's cage burst open, so he was zooming about the whole time, hooting happily. Feeling slightly ill, I turned to Ron while Harry was talking to the conductor.

"What was that all about when we got on? You've taken the Knight Bus before," I said, frowning.

"Oh, yeah, I know," Ron replied, grabbing onto a candle bracket for support as the driver cut a corner. Three lampposts and a mailbox had to leap out of the way. "It's because Ginny…well, when we came to get you in the summer, I think I told you that she was fairly ticked that she couldn't come along."

"Right."

BANG!

Ron was thrown forward out of his chair. Shaking his head, he picked himself up and wobbled back to his seat. "Well, when Mum said I could go and she couldn't, she got really angry at me and started ranting about how you're her friend too, and how everyone in the family still treats her like she's four years old - "

BANG!

Ron groaned as he picked himself up off the floor again.

"She was really that angry?" I couldn't picture cool, calm Ginny throwing a temper tantrum.

"Well, this was right after the whole thing with Percy, and at that point she and the twins were still really angry that Mum wouldn't let them do anything for the Order, so…I think she just got fed up with everyone treating her like a kid," Ron shrugged.

BANG!

This time both of us were thrown out of our seats. Ron groaned and got up first, then offered a hand to pull me up.

"So I sort of lied to her and made up this excuse that she couldn't come because we were taking a Muggle car, and Dad didn't want to charm it bigger because of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Law Number Something Something, so there wasn't enough room for her," Ron grinned slightly. "But really, Mum just didn't want her coming. Ginny's the youngest, and she's the only girl…Mum worries about her."

BANG!

Ron swore as he got up and detached Pigwidgeon from his back, where he had happily perched while Ron was lying on the floor. "So yeah, Ginny thinks we took a Muggle car to your house and that I've never been on the Knight Bus before. Although I'm sorry I told her that I've always wanted to ride this thing. It wasn't this bad last - "

BANG!

My chair teetered precariously, and Ron toppled backwards out of his. " - time," he finished as he got up. "I think I'll tell her that - "

BANG!

" - I've changed my mind," Ron said through clenched teeth as he picked himself up and wearily sat back down. "I never want to ride on this thing again."

Tonks still seemed preoccupied and nervous when we got off the Knight Bus in front of Hogwarts. She kept casting careful looks up and down the road, and was rather abrupt when she said goodbye to Ginny and I. Hmm. I wonder if something's happened? They'd tell us, wouldn't they?

Anyways, despite Umbridge and despite my misgivings, it is rather good to be back at Hogwarts. I mean, I'll miss Tonks and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and I'm sorry that Sirius has to stay at Grimmauld Place all alone now, but even with Umbridge around, Hogwarts still feels…safe. Oh, I know Grimmauld Place is very safe too, being under _Fidelius_ and all, but Dumbledore is at Hogwarts, and as long as we're in the same place as Dumbledore, I feel like nothing bad can happen to Harry. Plus, Mrs. Black was driving me mad.

As soon as we walked into the Gryffindor common room, I felt a sense of relief and peacefulness, even though Parvarti and Lavender immediately started questioning me about my Christmas with Ron, and even though Neville spent all night avoiding Ron, Harry, Ginny, and I. He didn't speak to us at breakfast, either. I don't know if we should mention what we saw in the closed ward…no, it's probably best we don't. Neville will talk about it when he's ready.

Double potions this morning, though, and Umbridge this afternoon…we'll see how long my current fondness for Hogwarts lasts.

_5:05 p.m._

Argh, I cannot believe this…first day back and Umbridge has already saddled us with mountains of homework. And not the sort of homework that is conducive to our learning, either - it's nothing more than pointless busy work. I was planning to spend tonight doing some O.W.L. revision, perhaps knitting a few more house elf hats (I'm getting really good at them; last night I managed to make a few with patterns on them!) but instead, Ron and I are going to go to the library and attempt to plow through Umbridge's stupid excuse for an assignment. What is this stupid excuse for an assignment, you ask?

Summarize each and every chapter of Slinkhard.

"I don't understand…do you want us to make notes on the chapter, or do further research on the topics covered in the chapter…?" I asked when she gave us the assignment today.

"Miss Granger, you will kindly raise your hand before speaking out in my class," Umbridge said in that fake, sugary tone of hers. I glared at her and then raised my hand as insolently as possible. That is to say, I flung my hand into the air carelessly while rolling my eyes.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Could you define what exactly you are looking for in this assignment?"

"I think I defined the assignment quite clearly, but very well," Umbridge said with a forced smile. "I would like a parchment's length summary of every chapter of Slinkhard we have covered thus far."

There was a cry of protest from everyone in the room.

"A parchment's length! But we've read twelve chapters! That's twelve pieces of parchment!" Dean protested.

"Mr. Thomas, as I told Miss Granger earlier, in this classroom you raise your hand before - "

"And we're going to have to read them all over again in order to summarize them!" Parvarti cried.

"I think you would all benefit from a second read-through of the material," Umbridge said coldly.

"No, we would all benefit from actually doing magic in this bloody class," Ron muttered under his breath, doodling on the cover of his textbook. Hooray for defacing Slinkhard!

"What was that, Mr. Weasley?" Umbridge snapped.

"I said, 'When is the assignment due?', Professor Umbridge," Ron lied.

Umbridge regarded him suspiciously, then announced, "Wednesday in class."

The cry of protest that arose after this statement was so loud and ardent that Umbridge had to threaten the entire class with detention before we would settle down. Hm, I wonder if she even has that many Scar Quills.

Wednesday in class! That's two days! We have other courses, other homework, other responsibilities, and of course, a secret Defense club to run behind her back. Who has time to summarize twelve chapters of Slinkhard!

That's why once the fifth year Gryffindors got back to the common room after classes, we decided to each do a chapter or two, and then share summaries. Normally I would be against this sort of blatant cheating, but it's a ridiculous assignment, and it's not as if Umbridge is going to actually read them, anyway. Hopefully Ron and I can get our respective chapters done tonight. Harry has Occlumency with Snape, so depending on how long that takes, he might have to do it tomorrow…

Speaking of which, I have to go meet Ron in the library.


End file.
